Tag Archive for: meniscus tear

The best exercise for golfers is golfing.
– Bobby Jones

I love to play golf and work with fellow golfers. While playing in a tournament with my friends I had lot’s of questions about aches and pains that seem to affect every golfer. They asked what are the most common problems I see and how to deal with them. While I can’t talk about every condition I see among golfers and each treatment, here are some common problems and a what I believe is key to preventing them.

Golf is a great sport for a life time but it takes some maintenance to keep your body pain free over time. Stretching may be better than practice for enjoying a pain free game. Most players need to make some time to stretch before playing or even spending time on the range. No ones body wants to be torqued and twisted without a little warning. While many players arrive right before tee time and take off to play a fifteen minute stretching routine can make a big difference.

You can’t stretch enough!

Warm muscles are more elastic allowing better stretching, walk to the range to get your heart rate up a little for a warm up. I like to work from head to toe so I remember to stretch the whole body. Hold each stretch for 20 seconds. Don’t bounce or stretch to the point of pain.

Neck – turn your head each way and hold

Shoulder – hold your arm across your body and pull your elbow

Chest – hold a club behind your back and push your chest out

Wrist – hold your elbow locked out and pull your hand down then up to stretch the forearms

Core muscles – hold a club over your head and bend to each side as far as you can and hold

Back – toe touches are great for the lower back. Go as far as you can but don’t bounce!

Hamstrings – place your foot on a bench or cart and lean forward toward your toes

Calves – Lean towards a cart or tree and put your heel behind you on the ground then move your pelvis forward. You should feel the calf muscle stretch.

What about after the round? The clubhouse is a great place to relax and retell the stories of your round but after you’re done a hot shower and a few more stretches should prevent the next day stiffness and keep you ready to play again.

Enjoy your golf game more by keeping your body in shape to play with simple stretches before and after you play! If you have trouble with any of these conditions from your golf game let’s work together on getting you back to your game. Hit em straight!

What is the meniscus and why did it tear?

The meniscus is a cartilage gasket or disc between the two bones in your knee, the femur (thigh) and tibia (shin). There are actually two menisci in each knee one on the medial or inner side of the knee and one on the outer or lateral side of the knee. They serve as a shock absorber in your knee and help with bending and twisting motions in the knee. The meniscus also protects the articular cartilage on the end of the bones in your knee from wearing down and turning into osteoarthritis. Because the medial meniscus is attached to other structures of the knee, medial meniscus tears are more common than lateral meniscus tears.

But I didn’t injure my knee!

A lot of patients come to my clinic complaining of pain in their knee, the most common cause is from meniscus tears. How did they tear the meniscus and why does it hurt? The meniscus acts with the motions of your knee to protect the articular cartilage on the bones of your knee. Sometimes patients know when they injure their meniscus, for example a young athlete who does repetitive twisting and squatting activities like soccer. However, I also see a lot of meniscus tears in patients who don’t really remember an injury but develop pain slowly over time. Often these patients are weekend warriors that have accumulated stresses and strains over a lifetime of activities involving their knees. This slow wear and tear process on the cartilage of the knee eventually tears the meniscus. This actually may be a more frequent type of torn meniscus called a degenerative meniscus tear. Meniscus tear symptoms may flare up from a simple deep knee bend to squat down and pick something up from the floor or stumbling and catching your fall.

Why does it hurt?

Whatever the mechanism, most patients will feel pain. If the injury is acute there may also be swelling and stiffness soon after the injury. These tears may settle down after a few days of rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Studies reveal that the meniscus actually doesn’t have much feeling in it so the pain actually comes from your body’s response to the tears. Often there is a flap or displacement of the injured meniscus cartilage that gets caught between the bones and irritates the lining of your knee where the nerve endings cause pain. Then your body pumps fluid into the knee to swell it up making it stiff and preventing you form moving too much and doing further damage to your knee. It is sort of a self protective mechanism. Isn’t that smart design? For patients that develop a torn meniscus from simple wear and tear over time there may not be a sharp pain or swelling but they may notice a dull ache develop over time, often it will be around the side and back of the knee. These patients may feel stiff in the morning, and have pain that waxes and wanes depending on their activity.

While many patients need to consider rest and time when they tear a meniscus, if the symptoms keep you from doing what you need to do or want to do, then meniscus surgery should be considered. I will cover meniscus surgery in another post.